Whole School Assembly reading - 6th July 2022
I’m going to begin this morning by showing a short piece of film from the 1970 World Cup.
In my opinion, that is the finest goal ever scored in World Cup Football. There are probably goals that have been scored through moments of individual brilliance, but none that have that extraordinary combination of poise, sublime skill, nonchalance, accuracy, structure – and sheer unstoppable power at the end. I remember watching the game on TV at home on a hot June day and being completely transfixed by the Brazilian performance, and that goal was etched onto my consciousness. That was surely how football was meant to be …
Everything about that Brazilian World Cup campaign was extraordinary of course. During the tournament the team scored 42 goals in 12 matches, winning every one and thus securing the trophy for the third time in 12 years. It was the first time that two world champion sides had ever met in a final – both Italy and Brazil had won World Cups twice. The largest ever crowd watched the game – an unbelievable 184,000 spectators in the huge Maracana Stadium. After the successful campaign, Pele – thought of as the greatest player to grace the beautiful game – retired as the only player in the world to be a three-time winner. A game stuffed with superlatives, the close of a memorable chapter in football history.
Assemblies aren’t just about football thought, and sport isn’t just about the game itself. Built into sporting success are values and a mindset as well as a degree of ruthlessness and a laser-like focus on training regimes. Teamwork is what delivers success in team sports and in life. That Brazilian team was simply unstoppable because of the way in which they communicated, co-ordinated and worked with and for each other. During the build up for the goal the ball was initially won by Tostao, a midfielder, who then ran the length of the field – not to touch the ball but to orchestrate the strike force with his back to goal. Individual brilliance is there in spades – but a willingness to make things happen for others too. A potent combination, teamwork in its truest sense demonstrated on the biggest stage imaginable.
And there is the parallelism. Teams don’t just happen by accident. They are built, consciously designed and constructed – and then you have to work to develop them. The coach of that Brazil team, Mario Zagallo was the second youngest coach to win a World Cup. He was just 38 – but philosophy wins the argument every time. In the same way great teams are ones which are sure of purpose, strong in identity, close-knit in membership and faithful to each other.
Teams are built – or in our case, here, reconstructed, over the past year since September last. We have to all be realistic – we’ve been through a lot both together and sometimes on our own. Rebuilding relationships takes time, energy and patience and it needs buy-in from everyone. Whichever year group you are in ask yourself how you have performed in that task over the past 3 terms. Have I tried my best? Have I represented the school? Have I made the effort – actually gone out of my way to get to know my peers, to help out, to listen and to make a positive difference? Have I actually done something to make our team just that bit more special. Everyone can do that – from the youngest Year 7 to the Head Prefects, and as someone once said ‘we’re all in this together’. You don’t have to be a history maker to be a part of a great team. You don’t have to be the best at everything – or anything for that matter. That’s not what this is all about – and interestingly that’s what Pele said too. Interviewed on his 80th birthday he said of that dream team ‘They would do things with ease, with calmness and grace. It wasn’t that our adversaries were weak. It was the talent that team had to improvise and the way that they worked for each other that made winning inevitable’.
SDS
